I realize that as believers of God, and followers of Jesus (or more correctly Yeshua/Joshua), we each live with some tolerance of seemingly opposing ideas. God is one, God is three, God holds and controls everything, but we are not programmed robots. The list goes on, and each of us live with an opinion of each, and struggle more with some than others to understand how this is lived out in our lives. All I ask is that you read this with an open mind, but you can leave up any guard you might have. Allow yourselves the opportunity to think about what it is that you do, why you do it, and for whom you do it for.
Currently I am struggling with this two part yet I find strongly bound concept. We are citizens of an eternal kingdom, and should therefore live accordingly, living in a world, but not of the world, but we live in a real world where our choices make, or appear to make, and impact on the population at large. That God is bigger than any nation or kingdom, in fact God establishes kings and kingdoms, yet it is our "duty" to vote so that the voice of the people can be heard (or insert your own purpose for voting).
So I submit, that it is not a duty, it is a freedom, a choice, an option that we as temporary citizens of America have. If you call it a duty, then what you do is you create an instance where it is okay to endorse someone who has a public opinion that is contrary to scripture, or you make a choice to vote for the lessor of two evils, but you are still choosing something which is evil. Those who would identify with the opening statement, have but one "duty" to selflessly, passionately, and actively protect the glory of God. How can we do that, and vote for someone who would affirm abortion? but that is okay because the other candidate wants to take away my guns. So what you have then done is to make a choice based on what you want, where you heart is, not for the glory of God.
(side note, as followers, we are the only ones who are accountable to the Bible. So stop picking abortion clinics or anything else, start praying for God to show you how you can love them, serve them make disciples of them, talk to people there, they are lost, therefore THEY CAN DO WHAT EVER THEY WANT, so back off and love. You don't see Paul telling the Ephesian Chruch to picket the Temple, or shout abuse at the temple harlots. You worry about your faith based works, and leave the lost alone in their lives, this is not the Nation of Israel, God's law does not apply to every one.)
Now, voting is not a sin, I do not believe that as followers of God we are not allowed to vote. However I do not see a mandate to take over government, to place "good" people in authority. Rather I see a God who says, let me deal with the way countries are run, you make disciples, you defend my glory, you LOVE people. So, should a true follower of God appear on the ballot, let us as followers vote for him or her, and give them our full support. BUT if there is not one whom is a citizen of the Kingdom, I believe that rather than choosing the lesser of two evils, we can choose to pray, and acknowledge God has creator, sustainer and KING, of this world and the next. That no matter who we do or do not vote for, this country is a mess, this world is a mess and that unless there is a president, senate, house of representatives, supreme court, and on down, filled with citizens of the Kingdom, nothing will change to make this a nation of God's followers.
Therefore, I have come to a place, where I shall choose to use my freedom not vote, I shall instead seek to turn towards the face of God, and allow the cares and worries of this world to fade. To place God as above all things earthly, to affirm in my mind, confessions and actions. Instead of saying that God establishes authority, but I must vote for who I think God wants. I believe that God is just in appointing a sinner because God's concerns are entirely centered upon the glory of God and ours are not. I don't care if you vote, or not. We shall all appear before the judgement seat of God, so act according. But I would say I care about your motivations, and where your allegiances lay. My dream for an ideal world, is to have all the body of Christ, humbling themselves before God, admitting their insufficiencies, asking to God to guide and lead them, and that the will of the Father be done on earth as it is in heaven, but we don't live in this world.
So whether you vote or not, is not the issue, whether you are american or not, is not the issue. The issue is, do you trust God? Do you live a life that is in line with what you confess? Do you place duty to an earthly nation above the duty to the glory of God? The above position is how I believe I can live this concept out, it may change I don't know that is God's plan, not mine.
I would love comments, concerns, wisdom. Here are some great reads, I think anyway, of different opinions on this issue.
http://www.ccc.org/Newsletters/Observer/SinglePage/observeroct06.pdf
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/voting.
http://www.thercg.org/books/scv.html
http://andjustincase.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-should-christians-vote-in-2010.html
That was an interesting point of view! I agree - God is ultimately in control, but since He says to pray for our leaders, perhaps he does want us to be involved in some way with politics? And if we should be voting a certain way to ensure God's law in the land is upheld, then by NOT voting we are giving opposition the opportunity to outvote us? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree most with you about letting the cares of the world go and not worrying or stressing. I've been debating on tomorrow's vote for weeks now and would rather not vote at all but I feel that for me - personally - I would feel bad that I didn't vote (and many others like me didn't either) and we could have swayed the vote.
Maybe praying God's will is a thousand million times better than one vote? :)